Introduction to

Mass Career
Customization
Aligning the workplace
with today’s workforce
 21st-century knowledge workers.
20th-century workplace. (Oops.)

Many of today’s business leaders typify the traditional

workforce. But the vast majority of tomorrow’s leaders
do not. Tomorrow’s leaders, the knowledge professionals
who will drive business growth through the 21st century,
are in ever-increasing demand and ever-decreasing
supply. These are the same professionals who are
irreversibly blurring the relationship between work
and life—and redefining what it means to build a
successful career.
The one-size-fits-all approach of the traditional
workplace is fitting fewer and fewer. Even baby
boomers nearing retirement are looking for options
to make it attractive for them to stay engaged.
Simply put, the workforce has changed while the
workplace has not.

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for
a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.
1
 Business as usual? Not an option.

Business leaders are feeling increasingly disoriented

by the effects the changing workforce is having on
workplace norms. Companies are responding by
WORKFORCE TRENDS CONVERGENCE
making incremental changes, but the convergence of
key workforce trends (along with lots of subplots) KEY TRENDS
demands a more significant, structural response.
Shrinking pool
of skilled labor

Changing family
structures

Increasing number
of women WORKFORCE IN
2008
Changing expectations AND BEYOND
of men

Evolving expectations
of Gen X and Gen Y

Increasing impact
of technology

2 3
Only 17 percent of U.S. By 2012, there will be a
households now have a 6 million person gap
husband in the workforce between the supply and
and a wife who is not. demand of knowledge
With 83 percent of workers in the U.S.
households now considered (Ouch!)
“nontraditional,” the
nontraditional is, well, This gap will grow to 35
the new traditional. million by 2025.

Source: Catalyst 1998; Department of Labor, 2005 Source: Employment Policy Foundation
 From corporate ladder to corporate lattice™.

The end of “traditional” career paths and work patterns

is upon us. Today a career is no longer a straight climb
up the corporate ladder, but rather an undulating
journey of climbs, lateral moves and planned descents. LADDER VERSUS LATTICE
The proverbial corporate ladder is evolving, right before
CORPORATE LADDER CORPORATE LATTICE
our eyes, into a corporate lattice.
Why a lattice metaphor? Simply stated, a lattice is a
platform for growth, with upward momentum visible • Traditional hierarchy • More conducive to
evolving matrix structure
along varied paths. • Singular path upward
Upward • Multiple paths upward
• Move up or stop
momentum
In contrast to the more limited options of the corporate moving
Integrated
• Move faster, slower;
• Work-versus-life balance change directions
ladder, the corporate lattice makes it possible for with talent
• Career-life fit
• Fits more traditional management
employees to customize careers—to the benefit of both family structure systems • Adjusts as workers’ needs
change over time
the individual and the company. • Assumes workers’ needs
remain consistent over time

6 7
 The end of “Any color as long as it’s black.”

Mass product customization, an everyday part of

today’s consumer marketplace (think M&Ms®, iTunes®,
ring tones, coffee, jeans, sneakers, U.S. postage stamps,
and more), has improved profitability, reduced costs, MASS CUSTOMIZATION SHARED BENEFITS
and increased customer loyalty. Mass career
customization (MCC)™ has the same power, too: MASS PRODUCT CUSTOMIZATION MASS CAREER CUSTOMIZATION

inspiring increased employee loyalty; reducing the costs

of turnover; and enabling the organization’s most Increased loyalty from greater Increased loyalty from greater
connection with customers connection with employees
valuable assets—its people—to accomplish the
organization’s most important work and purpose.
Decreased workforce
Reduced supply chain costs acquisition and
retention costs

Increased profitability Increased productivity

from value pricing through greater satisfaction
and career-life fit

Mass career customization is a patent pending process owned by Deloitte Development LLC.

8 9
 The mass career customization framework:
Truth and consequence.

The mass career customization framework reflects the

reality of how careers are built, providing a structured MASS CAREER CUSTOMIZATION
approach for organizations and their people to identify
options, make choices, and agree on tradeoffs to LOCATION/
PACE WORKLOAD SCHEDULE ROLE
ensure that value is created for the business and for
the individual. Accelerated Full
Not
Leader
Restricted
MCC articulates a definite, not infinite, set of options
along the four core dimensions of a career—Pace,
Workload, Location/Schedule, and Role—as well as the
tradeoffs associated with each at any point in time and
over time.
The four dimensions are very much interdependent; a
change in one will typically impact and require Decelerated Reduced Restricted
Individual
Contributor
adjustments in one or more of the others.
Ultimately, MCC’s greatest benefit is the option value it
creates—the psychic comfort of customizing one’s
career as priorities change over time (whether or not
the options are ever exercised).

10 11
 The occupation oscillation.
Mass career customization is centered on the powerful
insight that the career journey in the knowledge driven
economy looks increasingly like a sine wave of sorts,
with climbing and falling phases of engagement
over time.
12
While a structured yet individualized approach to how
careers are built is a sweeping change, many workers are
already customizing their own career paths through a
variety of one-off manifestations.
13
 What’s your sine?

A simple review of your own career path plotted below or
online at www.masscareercustomization.com/interactive.html
will reveal your personal sine wave and how you, too,
may be tailoring your career path.
The major business and career decisions your sine
reflects can now be planned proactively. As a result, the
conversations, the talent processes, and ultimately, the
work experiences that surround these decisions prove
more satisfying and productive for both the individual
and the business.

Career years: Career years: Career years: Career years:

Phase: Phase: Phase: Phase:

Restricted Restricted Restricted Restricted

14 15
The lasting impact MCC delivers real win/wins.
MCC benefits individuals and organizations
of MCC. through greater satisfaction, decreased cost
of employee churn, and increased loyalty.

MCC delivers option value.

Employees benefit from the comfort of
having the choice to customize their careers
as priorities change over time.

MCC delivers for everyone.

MCC is not reserved for a few employees
who need special care. It is a model that
constantly provides visibility around the
individual choices (and tradeoffs) available
to all employees, all the time.
 Fact, not fiction. Find out more.

Mass career customization is not an abstract theory. Mass Career Customization

Having determined the need to evolve into a corporate (Harvard Business School Press, 2007),
lattice organization, Deloitte is implementing MCC across available wherever books are sold.
its U.S.-based workforce, with roll-outs well underway.
The conclusions?
✓ Positive correlation between MCC and retention
✓ Improved satisfaction is contagious
✓ The floodgates for reduced schedules (“dial downs”)
did not materialize
✓ Increased window into those who want to accelerate
growth (“dial ups”)
✓ No negative impact on client service
✓ More consistent and robust career conversations cited
Deloitte is now well along the path of becoming a
corporate lattice organization, fully implementing mass
career customization across its U.S. businesses and
elsewhere to continuously match employees’ needs and A Wall Street Journal bestseller.
evolving life circumstances with the needs of the To learn more and map your own career using the MCC
business. A perfect fit. interactive exercise, visit www.masscareercustomization.com.
For more information about implementing mass career
customization in your organization, contact us at
masscareercustomization@deloitte.com.

18 19
About the authors.

Cathleen Benko is vice chairman and Anne Weisberg is a director

chief talent officer for Deloitte LLP and specializing in talent inclusion
is responsible for driving the strategies for Deloitte Services LP.
organization’s strategy to attract, She is a specialist in the field of
develop, and advance a highly skilled diversity, gender, and work/life
and increasingly diverse workforce. integration. Anne serves on the Board
Before her appointment to this position, of Directors of the Forte Foundation,
Cathy led Deloitte Consulting’s high and is a member of the National
technology industry sector as well as Advisory Commission to Workplace
the organization’s award-winning Flexibility 2010 and the Committee to
Women’s Initiative. Enhance Diversity of the Association
of the Bar of the City of New York.
Cathy has been named one of the “25
Most Influential Consultants” and a
“Frontline Leader” by Consulting
Magazine, and is the recipient of its
inaugural “Leadership Achievement
Award” for Women Leaders in
Consulting. Cathy previously
co-authored Connecting the Dots:
Aligning Projects and Objectives in
Unpredictable Times (Harvard Business
School Press, 2003).

20
Copyright © 2008 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.
Publication number 8196